[nabs-l] FW: ALERT! Sign-On to Letter to Congressional Leadership Concerning Health Reform and Vision Loss]

[Jedi]

Jim,

What I mean to say is that the experience of blindness is more a social 
issue than a medical one. Yes, blindness is caused by medical 
conditions, but medical conditions resulting in lack of eyesight don't 
create literacy problems for the blind, severe unemployment rates, 
discrimination, etc. Social issues do, and these are the greater issues 
we face as a community. The country would do well to recognize that. 
Currently, they're not, at least not to the extent that they should.

Respectfully Submitted


Original message:
> Jedi,
> You said, "First, blindness is not necessarily a health problem. If anything,
> blindness is a social issue of an economic and educational nature
> rather than a health care problem." I have to completly disagree.

> I support the NFB's philosopy that with training, blindness can be 
> reduced to a mere nucance, but there is a difference between optimisim 
> and ignorance. At some point we have to be realistic as to what 
> blindness is. Blindness is the result of a medical disorder, disease, 
> or trauma. No amount of training is going to change the fact that I 
> have a genetic eye disease called Retinitus Pigmentosa that is treated 
> (or atleast monitored) by a doctor. I am sorry, but I don't go to a 
> doctor to be treated for a "social issue of an economic and educational 
> nature"; I go to a doctor to get medical treatment for a medical 
> deseaae/disorder. If I wanted to be treated for a "social issue of an 
> economic and educational nature", I would go see a therapist, a preist, 
> a teacher, or a librarian, not a doctor.

> It is true that "blindness" itself is not a disease/disorder, rather 
> blindness is a symptom of many different diseases/disorders. But, just 
> because blindness is a symptom, rather than a cause does not give 
> blindness some sort of special, non-medical classification. You cannot 
> seperate the medical diagnosis from the symptoms is causes. For 
> example, unquestionably,  diabeties is a medical condition, but what 
> about the low blood sugar it causes? Is low blood sugar also a "social 
> issue of an economic and educational nature", or is low blood sugar a 
> medically relivant side-effect of diabeties?  What about 
> diabeties-related blindness? Is the side-effect of "blindness" a 
> medical condition or a "social issue of an economic and educational 
> nature"? Why is there a difference between diabeties's  side effect of 
> low blood sugar, and its side-effect of blindness?

> I wonder if there is a relucance to call blindness a medical condition 
> because for the most part, blindness is untreatable/uncureable? I 
> wonder if more forms of blindness were medically treatable and 
> cureable, would more blind people be willing to admit that their 
> blindness is indeed a medical condition?

> Thoughts?
> Jim


> Homer Simpson's brain: "Use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Oh, that sounds too complicated."
>  Homer's brain: "Okay, don't use reverse psychology."
>  Homer: "Okay, I will!"



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